- #1
Suppaman
- 128
- 11
This is a thought experiment, and I am making it as simple as possible. It all takes place out in space. It is necessary to create something that is like a common nail with a large head. It is made of the most ridge material possible, something that is held together by the most potent force between an atomic component. The nail is moving through space and goes through a hole in some massive block of something, no friction. When the head of the nail contacts the surface of the block it will stop. However, the end of the nail must continue to move as the information that it is stopped is limited by light speed. So the nail must stretch. This seems to imply that no perfectly ridge material can be constructed. It would be interesting to know how slow the stretch would move through the nail as that would make the need for additional displacement. Any material parameters or dimensions or motion could be set in a computer simulation of this thought experiment. I think.